Recapping the needle of a syringe is a common procedure practiced by healthcare providers. The recapping procedure may occasionally cause “needle sticks” since healthcare providers sometimes misalign needles with the openings of the caps, or inadvertently stick themselves while handling the syringe. Typically, healthcare providers need to be protected from needle sticks between drawing up fluids into the syringe and administering injections through the needle since fluids linked to these “clean” type of needle sticks may cause injuries and adverse reactions. Also, healthcare providers need to be protected from contracting contagious diseases that may be carried by contaminated needles, since it has been well recognized that no contact should be made with a contaminated needle.
In an effort to reduce or eliminate needle stick injuries, it was necessary to improve the state of the art. The improvements minimize or eliminate the clean type and, the more dangerous, contaminated type of needle stick injuries.